Translated by: Ellen Lindqvist

With the roots in pedagogy, Cecilie has woven together art-, sociology and gender studies to form lectures, textbooks, nonfiction and film as tools for politicians and teachers to promote equality and diversity. She describes herself as a creative link between idea and action – a process that must have different shapes due to the target group; a conviction that is generated throughout the many twists of her own life.Slowly strolling along Overgaden Oven Vandet, we’re gazing over jam-packed tourist boats, fancy sailboats and hip food trucks, before we find Cecilie’s broad smile, framed by a shiny, wavy hair and gold jewelry, sticking out of the door on a houseboat. And, just as a sailor, she has been swaying through several areas of sciences to later return to the street she grew up on, only now with a baggage of knowledge wider than Christianshavn’s canal. The boat, funnily enough, contains of parts from her other houseboat, located just a little further down the canal, where she lives together with her husband and their two kids. “The idea was to buy a summerhouse, but then I saw this boat for sale and just fell in love with it and the idea of having it as my office“, Cecilie says. It witnesses a lot of Cecilie’s independency, creativity and ability to take parts from something old to create something new – as well as her strive to be in motion to get new impression and perspectives; to be fluent.

On the other side of the canal we find Cecilie’s childhood home, where she lived with her parents for two years before they got divorced and the simple apartment on Store Kongensgade was replaced by a fancy house in Rungsted – an affluent neighborhood with completely different social norms than she was used to – where she moved with her mother and her new husband. The new husband also brought two sons in the same age, whereas Cecilie for the first time became aware of people questioning her for not playing with dolls.

“I thought it was such a strange question, they could might as well been asking why I didn’t like the color green”, she laughs. Her father on the other hand, whom she lived with every second weekend in the working class neighborhood, also known as “Pissrännan”, let her play traditional boy-games“To be confirmed in several different roles remained something natural for me”, she says.

That Cecilie had something rebellious over herself became obvious at the new school in Rungsted, where she frequently came up with pranks and got her classmates to participate in games as water fights, blocking the door for the teacher or put thumbtacks on their chairs. The more she got questioned over her norm exceeding behavior, the wilder the games became – Cecilie wanted in any way to make it clear, that she was not going to change herself just because others didn’t think she fit into the norm. It all came to its peak as she in fourth grade was caught smoking in one of the school toilets with a girlfriend. We can at least discern a delicate talent for organization! “When you’re seen, you bloom, when you’re not, you wither – or run wild”, Cecilie laughs.

At the age of fifteen, she insisted on getting out her savings and leave home, and after high school she went to France to study French and art history. Back in Copenhagen she starts the teachers program, as a professional interest for gender followed. She automatically saw how pedagogy and gender roles intertwined – but mainly the education as both a platform and a medium for gender sensitivity – encouraging her to write all her essays with a gender perspective. “It is in school that gender roles becomes clear, whereas you also can do something against them”, Cecilie observes. She gets hired as a teacher at Dragör, a place she describes as ruled by very rigid social norms – “there were no room to be boy or girl in your own way”, she noticed – a perfect place for her to make room for diversity – also concerning gender.

Her job as a teacher she never saw as something definite – but rather as a tool to develop herself with other people; a necessary detour. She stresses that she always has had difficulties with definitions on things; whether it concerns educations where you “become” your title or solid structures and authorities. Rather, she would like to see herself and the society as parts of different processes, where change with the best result happens with consideration to what feels right at the specific occasion. ”I felt as if I had found my call – creating more space to become yourself as a person whether you’re a girl or a boy”, Cecilie says.

”I experienced this lack as a child myself and noticed later on the huge need of this space in the meeting between teachers and schoolchildren”. She put the teaching aside and finished writing her book, “The school’s book on gender and equality”, where she explores how to communicate in different ways to reach different people, which also gave her use for her skills in Art. After studying sociology and gender studies she starts her own company in 2008, “Mangfold” – a word that exists in Swedish but not in Danish – where she works as a creative link between science and practice. The following project became a colouring book for adults, Facing gender diversity, where she has put together pieces of 30 different artist to colorize in order to challenge general perceptions about gender. Today she is the author of ten books and works as a lecturer at schools and conferences. Furthermore, she recently became an employee in the Danish Ministry of Gender Equality, with the purpose to integrate gender studies in education. ”There are so many myths concerning sexuality and gender – it’s extremely important to distribute correct and accurate knowledge, certainly as an adult working with children”, she emphasizes.

As for other creative ways to communicate, she recently produced a short documentary about a trans-gendered woman who was rejected a sex reassignment surgery in Denmark considering her sexuality. It was produced solely by volunteer work, since the Danish Film Institute rejected Cecilie’s application. The short movie was selected in this year to appear at the Women Deliver Conference here in Copenhagen. “If you believe in something, you should just do it even though people say it’s a bad idea”, she concludes.

Her work for gender awareness and equality has not only been a bed of roses – she has received a lot of resistance, from conservatives as well as liberals. She stands very critical to Denmark’s general approach that “every man is the architect of his own fortune”, and believes that there’s a significant difference in the formal modification and real modification – for instance, the Equal Pay Act went through in 1976 but it is still not implemented. On the other hand, she has experienced a new openness for her opinions, which she believes is an impact from social medias and the more progressive attitude from the surrounding Nordic countries. However, she finds it hard to work with a solid feminist organization. ”I agree with their conviction, but the question is how we will reach the goal – it doesn’t make any sense to just sit and agree with each other – I want to work with concrete strategies in many different ways”, she says. In the same way she says pedagogic is a central part of her conviction – it’s by respecting the inequalities with children we’ll build the seed to a diverse and equal society.